Remedyforce Implementation: For new Remedyforce customers, preparation is key

By Mark Hodge, Senior Remedyforce Consultant, Cloudaction    


I love working with new Remedyforce customers. A new Remedyforce implementation is like the proverbial clean slate. But taking advantage of a clean slate requires a structured approach and preparation in order to turn your clean slate into a practical Remedyforce ITSM success.

Remedyforce’s greatest benefit is its extreme agility as an ITSM solution. It gives you the ability to quickly implement your ingress process points, either through email listeners that automatically convert emails to the help desk into incident requests, or via an easy-to-configure self-service portal to manage service requests, self-help opportunities, and approvals.

And while it is true that the faster you get the “churn” inside Remedyforce, the faster you can build in the depth of process that Remedyforce offers, you need to resist the temptation to simply bring in all of your old data and processes from your current tool. A clean slate should represent a fresh start. The success of your Remedyforce implementation really comes down to preparation. Here are some tips and best practices you can use to prepare for your Remedyforce journey and build a solid foundation for long-term success.

1. Engage a qualified Remedyforce partner – This may sound self-serving coming from a Remedyforce partner, but it is true nonetheless. What’s more, you should engage a professional services firm early so you can gain the benefit of solid Remedyforce expertise from the beginning. A consulting firm gives you immediate access to best practices as well as solid recommendations on how to interact with communities and support and a roadmap to improve your adoption. Cloudaction, for example, offers a wide variety of options that can be customized to your approach. A final caveat: Not all Remedyforce consulting firms are the same, so do your due diligence.

2. Plan your timeline – Once you have Remedyforce implementation partner, it is time to plan your timeline. If you come to the table with the following data elements defined and in hand, you will gain a big advantage on time spent with your Remedyforce partner.

  • Users – Define your user profiles. For example, ServiceDesk Client is your end user who can submit and track requests; they can also do approvals and view subordinates tickets. ServiceDesk Staff is your IT staff who manages and closes tickets. System Administrators are those on your staff who manage changes and configuration to Remedyforce. As part of your implementation, you should create a pilot group from each of these areas. Tip: The profiling process works best when you socialize and give the business users you support the opportunity to participate. Also, plan on integrating with your Active Directory; otherwise you need to prepare a csv file for user import. There are also some great tools out there to create single sign on.
  • Queues – Use queues to distribute requests to workgroups of qualified experts. Your IT staff members will belong to one our more workgroups. Remedyforce comes with a default incident queue which routs incidents and service requests to the appropriate workgroup. And with simple workflow you can route to other queues.
  • Roles – Use your organizational chart to formulate role-based record sharing and assign the ability to manage different levels of approvals as well as entering “On behalf of”.
  • Categories – Build your category tree based on the defined business services you support, which gives you the advantage of quickly seeing this on a report. By having well-defined categories you are able to route incidents to subject matter experts without interruption.
  • Workflow – Use Remedyforce workflows to automate processes. Define the notifications that go out to your staff and users. Automate through field updates. Build in time triggers. For example, when users submit tickets, they get a notification that the ticket was accepted and routed; the staff gets a notification that a new ticket has arrived; and an aged ticket sends a notification based on a time trigger.
  • Reporting – Take advantage of Remedyforce’s many out-of-the-box reports. By understanding the Salesforce reporting engine, you will have ability to efficiently customize your reports using the Remedyforce objects.
  • Knowledge articles – Identify self-help opportunities such as FAQ sheets and related documentation to resolve known workarounds.

3. Train your users – Conduct targeted training sessions for your staff and end users so that you are not only teaching your users how to navigate Remedyforce, but you are also getting feedback on process questions. The more sessions, the better.

4. Strive for continual improvement – Start simple with incidents and service requests, but look to expand to using change and release management along with configuration management.

They say a little preparation goes a long way. And this adage is especially true with a Remedyforce implementation. Pre-implementation planning lays a solid foundation for an ITSM solution that provides real business value from the get-go.

At Cloudaction, our goal is to help you get maximum value from your Remedyforce experience. We welcome your comments and suggestions. Please don’t hesitate to contact us at 1-844-2CLOUDA (1-844-225-6832) or via Ask Us NOW!, a complimentary service from Cloudaction to provide expert answers to your product capability, functionality, and implementation questions. We promise to respond to your inquiry or question within 24 hours.